Voting
How to vote in India: a step-by-step guide to polling day
What happens at a polling station, from the voter list check and the inked finger to the EVM button and the VVPAT slip, and which 12 photo IDs the Election Commission accepts.
Explainers
How Indian elections work
The practical questions behind the results: who can vote, what happens at the polling station, how the machines work and how a winner is decided. Each guide links to the official source it is based on.
Registration
How to register as a voter in India
Who can be on the electoral roll, the four qualifying dates, how to apply online with Form 6 or offline through your Booth Level Officer, and how to check your name.
Registration
Linking Aadhaar with your voter ID: is it compulsory? (Form 6B)
Linking Aadhaar to the electoral roll through Form 6B is voluntary. What the 2022 rules and the Election Commission told the Supreme Court in 2023, and what happens if you do not link.
Registration
e-EPIC: how to download your digital voter ID card
What an e-EPIC is, who is eligible, the steps to download it from the Voter Portal or Voter Helpline App, and what to do if your mobile number is not registered.
Voting
How EVMs and VVPAT work in Indian elections
The three parts of an Electronic Voting Machine, how many candidates and votes it can handle, how it is tested before polling, and the history of EVMs in India from 1982.
Voting
What is NOTA in India, and does it change the result?
NOTA, "None of the Above", became a button on Indian voting machines after a 2013 Supreme Court ruling. What the Court decided, where the button sits, and what it does not do.
Counting
How votes are counted in India, and how a winner is declared
How the Control Unit tallies votes, when VVPAT paper slips are counted, the Supreme Court rule of five polling stations per assembly segment, and how the winner is decided.
Rules
The Model Code of Conduct: what it is and what it restricts
The Model Code of Conduct comes into force when the Election Commission announces the schedule and applies until the election is complete. What it covers for parties, governments and polling day.
Institutions
How a Chief Minister is chosen: what the Constitution says and what Governors do
The Governor appoints the Chief Minister, but the Assembly decides who can stay. What Article 164 says, how a hung Assembly is handled, and what the Supreme Court has said about floor tests.
Institutions
How the Prime Minister is chosen: the President, the Lok Sabha and the number 272
The President appoints the Prime Minister under Article 75, but the Lok Sabha decides who can stay. Why 272 matters, what happens in a hung Parliament, and what is convention rather than law.
Institutions
Lok Sabha vs Rajya Sabha vs Vidhan Sabha: how they differ
Size, how members are chosen, term, minimum age and who can dissolve each House, side by side, with what the Constitution says about Money Bills and the state Legislative Council.
Law
The anti-defection law: what the Tenth Schedule says and who decides
When an MP or MLA is disqualified for defecting, the two-thirds merger rule, why the Speaker decides, and what the Supreme Court has said about delays.
Rules
What is a bypoll (by-election) and when is one held?
A by-election fills a seat that falls vacant between general elections. The six-month rule in section 151A, when it does not apply, and what happens when a winner holds two seats.
Voting
How Rajya Sabha elections work: MLAs vote, and the quota decides
Who elects the Rajya Sabha, why the ballot is open, how the single transferable vote and the quota work, and why NOTA is not allowed.
Institutions
The Election Commission of India: what it does, who appoints it, and who can remove it
What Article 324 gives the Election Commission, how the Chief Election Commissioner is appointed and removed, what the 2023 law changed, and what is pending before the Supreme Court.
Rules
Filing a nomination: who can stand, the deposit, and what candidates must disclose
Eligibility to contest, the security deposit, proposers, scrutiny, and the affidavit on criminal cases, assets and education that the Supreme Court made compulsory.
Institutions
Types of elections in India: Lok Sabha, Assembly, Rajya Sabha, President and more
Who votes, who is elected and who conducts each election in India, from the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies to the Rajya Sabha, the President, the Vice-President, by-elections and local bodies.
Rules
What is delimitation? How constituencies are drawn, and why the freeze matters
What delimitation means, what the Constitution says about seats and boundaries, why the number of Lok Sabha seats per state has been frozen at the 1971 census, and what has happened in 2026.
Rules
Reserved constituencies: how seats are set aside for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
What a reserved constituency is, who can contest and who can vote, how reserved seats are chosen, how many there are in the Lok Sabha, and when the reservation ends unless extended.
Voting
First past the post vs proportional representation: how India counts a win
How the Lok Sabha and Assemblies use first past the post, where India uses proportional representation instead, and what the 2019 and 2024 results show about the gap between votes and seats.
Janadesh Online is independent and is not affiliated with the Election Commission of India. These guides summarise the Commission’s published material; for the authoritative and current rules, follow the source links at the end of each guide.
